Try Again
by RicardianScholar Clark-Weasley
Summary: try, try again, practise makes perfect. so Gwen is being sent back again and again and again to make things right for Jack. because the Bad Wolf isn't satisfied until he's happy.


**Author's Note: sort of inspired by those Harry Potter fics where Harry goes back to make things right in his life. I chose Gwen merely because she was the only one alive and she had some sort of contact with Rose. I'm too lazy and have too much on my plate to turn this in a full blown out fic, so I stuck to an oneshot. Please R&R**

She laid there in a growing pool of red sticky liquid. Her eyes fluttering to a close as she inwardly cursed herself.

She had been the last one. The one that never gave up and never given in. The one that lived through it all and here she was dying.

Because of a stinking weevil of all things!

She looked up at the night sky with half shut eyes. The bright orange lights disguised whatever sparkling stars that was out there. She hoped that Jack was ok. That he was safe and happy. That he had dealt with his grieve and guilt.

Somehow she doubted it.

The lights were blurring together and slowly, ever so slowly they burnt out into darkness.

She'll never see her son's first birthday.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

_Shimmering gold. A beautiful bright gold. Blinding. _

_Was she dead? Because she swore the last time she was it was all dark and scary. Not so...dazzling. _

_Footsteps. Delicate, careful footsteps, coming closer and closer towards her. _

"_Who's there?"_

_Her voice echoed into the never-ending gold. The footsteps were louder and then...a woman. A woman in a pair of black trousers and red hoodie. Golden eyes that were blinding as the surroundings. Golden spun hair and skin humming with golden energy._

_She was not a normal woman. _

"_Gwen. Elizabeth. Cooper" she said slowly, pronouncing each syllable with care. "Jack's Gwen. Torchwood's Gwen. My Gwen"_

"_Yours?" Gwen repeated with confusion and a little bit of anger. She was no one's let alone Jack's or this woman's. _

"_I created Jack. And then I created you and the team to keep him company" the woman said calmly. "I am the Bad Wolf" answering the unasked question. "And I have come to give you a second chance"_

"_A second chance?"_

"_My Jack is lonely. The chances of him meeting with the Doctor are very slim; it's a very big universe. He has already....danced....with many people but they are not you, not Ianto or Toshiko or Owen. He needs his family"_

"_If he never left, I would have helped out" Gwen snapped. "He ran off! He was so caught up with grief and guilt that he had just got to run away"_

_The woman blinked. "It's remarkable how much he becomes like the Doctor, the older and older he gets" she said coolly. "Go back Gwen Cooper. Go back and change things. Make the world a better place for Jack"_

"_What if I fail?" Gwen asked anxiously. _

"_Try, try again" the woman said smiling faintly. "Practise makes perfect after all"_

_And once again the world went dark. _

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

She woke up on the Hub floor with a groan. Her eyes fluttered open to see Jack hovering above her, his blue eyes sparkling in concern and a small sigh of relief made a warm breeze on her face.

He was real. He was here.

"Oh Jack!" she cried out wrapping her hands round his neck and holding on tight. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too" Jack said warmly. "You just randomly passed out for two whole minutes. Don't worry me like that"

"Oi, freckles let me give you a check-up so I can find out what's wrong"

Gwen pulled away from Jack to see Owen. "O-Owen?" she whispered. He was there. He was alive. His pale weasel like face scowling in irritation and concern. "Oh god!" she ran over to him and clung to him tightly. "You bloody bastard!"

"What the hell woman?" Owen shouted.

"Gwen you're awake" Tosh said relieved.

"Oh Tosh, you're here too!" Gwen ran over to the small shy Japanese woman and held her tightly. Breathing in her sharp soap scent, for some reason Tosh never used scented soaps. "You're real"

"I take it coffee is in need?" a polite respectful voice said from behind.

"Ianto!" Gwen practically leaped on him, legs clinging to his waist as she held on to dear life. Ianto must never die. Ianto was Jack's happiness and was part of the reason Jack left. Also Ianto made the best goddamn coffee and she missed that. "Yan, tell me the truth did your Dad work in Debenhams"

"H-how did you know?" Ianto asked staggering under Gwen's weight.

"Doesn't matter. Just be more open with us, haven't you learnt keeping secrets destroys us?" Gwen said jumping off of Ianto. She gazed up at his face, still not believing that he was there. That the others were here. "I'm so glad to be home"

Because that was what the team was. Home. Rhys was nothing compared to these four who bickered and bantered and held on to one another as they were each others lifeline.

"I think she might have knocked her head" Owen whispered loudly.

She's starting to not miss Owen though.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

After a long day convincing the others she was fine, Gwen went home and checked the calendar. It was late February 2008. Just before that alien meat incident. She sat there over a cup of coffee long after Rhys went to bed.

As much as she loved him, she could not let Rhys into the Torchwood world. It was best to leave him oblivious and concentrate on protecting Tosh, Owen and Ianto. She phoned the company that was selling the meat after searching for them on the internet. She gave them an anonymous tip to use a different lorry company than Rhys'. Unfortunately it meant that the poor alien wouldn't have a chance of being set free because the chances of this company having a crash were slim.

It was a sacrifice to protect the others. This way she could think on how to save Owen from Copley's gunshot. She was probably best of just leaping at him and dragging him down to the ground. Even if his arm gets shot in the process at least they have Martha on board to help stitch him up.

Satisfied with her semi-plan, she curled up in bed beside Rhys and fell asleep. A little part of her wondering if the future Rhys and her baby boy were safe.

The next few weeks flew by quite quickly and Martha was here. Gwen had forgotten how much she liked Martha. It had been too long since she last saw the Mrs Jones-Smith, who took off with her husband to freelance round the world. They gossiped cheerfully about Jack over a cup of coffee, the others obviously eavesdropping.

When Martha got dragged away by Jack for their private gossip of the Doctor (who Gwen has yet to meet but fully plans to find a way. After all when Martha wasn't looking she nicked her mobile and found the Doctor's phone number) Owen dragged her to a little corner with Tosh and Ianto.

"What the hell are you doing?" Owen demanded.

"Err...getting to know Jack's friend?" Gwen said feeling confused.

"You're fraternising with the enemy" Owen hissed in her face, spittle flying everywhere. Lovely.

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Grow up Owen. She's not going to steal your place; she's got a good job in UNIT and is here temporary"

"Besides, what we really want to know is how Jack knows her" Tosh said looking eagerly at Gwen. "Well?"

"She travelled with Jack's Doctor" Gwen said hurriedly. "They saved a world or something together and then Jack asked to come back to be with us. Martha left because apparently the Doctor is hung up over some girl called Rose"

"Rose?" Ianto said looking up sharply.

"Yes, Rose"

"Jack says her name sometimes. In his sleep" Ianto said quietly. "Looks like this Doctor isn't the only one hung up on her"

Everyone shifted awkwardly, not sure what to say. It was difficult to define Ianto and Jack's relationship. They weren't the ordinary gay couple and yet sometimes either one is prone to be so normal it was weird.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

_She groaned when she saw the gold dazzling light again. Shit she died, again. She pushed Owen out of the way in time only she ended up with the bloody bullet in her heart. Last thing she heard and saw was Jack begging her to not die. _

_The Bad Wolf tsk-ed when she saw her. "Go back, sneak round when the man is distracted and shoot him in the back before he pulls out his gun"_

"_I'm no assassin!" Gwen exclaimed, horrified. _

"_It's him or Owen" Bad Wolf said calmly. "Owen would eventually lead to Jack's unhappiness and we don't want that, do we?"_

"_No" Gwen said sullenly. _

"_Try again"_

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

So she did as she was told and now Jack was furious with her.

Or maybe he was furious with himself. To make her this cold heartless bitch that killed a man from behind.

Owen however was rather impressed and brought her a drink for 'saving my skin'. Ianto and Tosh remained neutral though Tosh had left a box of chocolates on Gwen's desk and Ianto has been making his extra special coffee for weeks.

Rhys had broken up with her a few weeks before the wedding. An alien had almost invaded and she missed the meeting with the caterer. Rhys was fed up with being second to her job and told her if marrying him wasn't important to her enough to make it to the meetings then they shouldn't bother.

Strangely enough the only thing that hurt her was the fact her son wouldn't be born. Unexpectedly she had loved being a mother and now she wouldn't have the chance. Or at least the baby she'll have wouldn't be her true first born son. It kinda hurt knowing that.

So life went on. They fought aliens, had sex (well Jack and Ianto did), ate and went to sleep before repeating the process with the occasional alcoholic binge.

Then that explosion from John Hart happened and no one died. But Cardiff was in chaos and everyone went to the same designations from before trying to save the city.

And of course, Owen died trying to get past the weevils and the whole south Wales blew up with the nuclear station.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

_Bad Wolf had a hand to her forehead and a frown pulling at her face. _

"_I really didn't think this one through" she said to Gwen. "Gray is such a difficult one to deal with. I think if I send you back to the time Jack came back and then you kill John that might solve it"_

"_Oh hell no!" Gwen shouted. "I am not going back that far! Can't you just use your godly powers to kill them?"_

"_I cannot have such interference in life. You are my go-between" _

"_Can't you get another?"_

_She shook her head. "I might be able to influence the weevils...and I could probably hold the door up a little longer. But you have to save Tosh. That is your mission, make sure Tosh doesn't die"_

"_Oh sure, and then I can have tea with the Queen because that's just a piece of cake that is" Gwen said sarcastically. _

"_Try again" was all the Bad Wolf said waving a dismissive hand at her. _

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

So she got there in time to shoot Gray before he shot Tosh. He laid there bleeding rather badly and she knocked him out with the butt of her gun to prevent him from doing anything to hurt anyone else. When Jack woke up from his frozen sleep and saw Gray laying there with all that blood he looked accusingly at Gwen.

"He's out cold, not dead. I just shot his arm" Gwen said with a shrug. "He was going to shoot Tosh"

"Just like Doctor Copley was going to shoot Owen?"

"My team is important" Gwen said coldly. "You seem to have your priorities messed up Jack, if you don't have us how can you look after the innocent?"

Jack winced. "Sorry" he mumbled.

"S'all right" Gwen muttered. "Just don't expect us to help you play Happy Families, yeah?"

He nodded and went to sort out Gray while Owen escaped the nuclear station and Ianto helped John clean up his own messes.

The world was at peace again.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Of course it didn't last long.

The Earth was stolen and Gwen had to sit there twiddling her thumbs with the others while Jack was out there with his Doctor saving the world. She knew Tosh's security bubble thing would work and when it did, Tosh had given Owen a nice steamy snog to her and Ianto's relief. Of course the relief grew into horror when clothes started to go missing and they sent them to Jack's office.

It was when the Doctor made that call that something clicked in her mind. She had met the Bad Wolf before, very briefly on a computer screen.

"You're the Bad Wolf!" she blurted out, eyes wide looking at the blonde next to the Doctor.

"Blimey it's déjà vu" Bad Wolf muttered. "You're a descendent of Gwyneth's I suppose?"

"Don't..." she trailed off. This woman obviously didn't know her; it could be possible that the Bad Wolf just adopted this woman's appearance because Gwen had seen her before. "Never mind, what do you want us to do?"

She refused to talk about that moment to anyone. Especially Jack who kept pestering her.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

The 456 came and Gwen was at a lost on what to do. She wasn't sure herself how Jack saved the world this time. She went to Clement like last time and since he didn't smell her pregnancy he gave out a lot of information and for his protection she 'kidnapped' him and took him back to the Hub. Ianto and Owen weren't impressed with him as he accidentally insulted them.

When Jack walked in Gwen suddenly remembered the bomb. She had Owen to check Jack out because "isn't it suspicious that they left you? They probably knew you can come back alive and set you up for something".

So they all escaped in time and headed off to London. With Tosh and Owen, the spying on the government went a little smoother and since Clement had already told them about Jack giving him to the aliens, it meant Jack could explain calmly why he did it after they rescued his naked arse.

It was very funny that he had to stand there and explain something so very serious when he was naked. None of them could stop looking down there, and boy was he rather big.

When they made the plan Jack was determined that Tosh, Owen and Ianto with them.

Gwen refused.

"Why not?" Jack demanded.

"Just think about it!" Gwen yelled. "We have no idea what these aliens can do! They managed to speak through the children, what if they somehow realised a deadly disease in the building or possessed one of you and make you kill the others? You can't die Jack, it's safe for you to go"

"Nice to know you care for me so much" Jack said bitterly.

"I love you, you know that" Gwen said sadly. "You and the others are my life, I'm just thinking about their safety. While you're there we can work on saving Alice and Steven"

Jack blinked and suddenly leapt on her. Kissing her briefly on the lips. "You're wonderful" he told her before cheerfully going off to his doom.

Ianto looked slightly jealous but surprised her. "We could share...i think that's what Jack's been hoping for" he suggested rather shyly.

"We'll talk about that later" Gwen said blushing lightly.

"Oh jeeze, we're gonna have to suffer watching you three being all lovey dovey now?" Owen whined.

"No worse than watching you moon over Tosh" Ianto shot back.

Gwen pulled her phone out and stared at it. "I've got an idea" everyone looked at her expectantly. They'd gotten use of Gwen having strange, weird plans that always work. "I'm going to phone the Doctor"

"WHAT?!"

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

"I'm sorry"

Jack didn't look up at him. He remained staring at the floor, hand clutching the whiskey bottle tightly.

"I'm so, so sorry"

He ignored him. Wandering if he could convince Ianto or Gwen to sleep with him if he got home before the nights out. Or just find a random stranger on the street.

"Really, I am so sorry...i didn't even know you had a child, let alone a grandchild! And...And I had no choice, believe me if I could magic up another child to stop them I would...but there was no time and there was thousands and thousands of other children's lives about to be sacrificed"

"Shut up" Jack said quietly. "For god sake just shut up. I think I preferred you in your other body, at least he never just _babbled_" he took a swig of whiskey. "Listen here Doc, I _know_, all right? I _get_ it, I understand perfectly. What I'm getting drunk for is not just in his memory but for the fact if I was in your shoes, I would do the same. Alice knows that. That's why she hates me"

"I'm so sorry"

Jack snorted. "Can't you say anything else?" he took another swig. "Why are you here? Why now? Why not days ago when I needed you"

"Gwen only just phoned me"

"Gwen?! How the fuck did she get your number?"

"I don't know, maybe she still had it from that planet in the skies incident? Maybe she got it from Martha or someone. Who knows? She's a very crafty girl; you know she used Rose against me to get me here. Said Rose would want me to help you. Wasn't necessary, moment she said the children were in danger I was rearing to go"

"Gwen's been acting different since I've come back"

"She's a very strange girl, your Gwen. I look at her and I see time overlapping itself, over and over again. As if she's travelled back and forth. She's a bit golden as well, like you...almost as if she's been touched by the vortex"

"You mean...what made me immortal..."

The Doctor looked up at the ceiling. "On our second adventure, Rose got attached to this maid. Gwyneth...she...she died protecting Cardiff, sealing up the rift" the Doctor swallowed, his Adams apple bopping. "Rose never really got over that. It was a first proper death that really sunk in. Maybe...maybe your Gwen is Gwyneth...who knows, I could just be making it all up in here. Old age, you know?"

"Yeah old age" Jack mumbled. He then lifted his bottle up to the ceiling. "Here's to Rose" he said before guzzling the whole bottle down. "Y'know...i wished you let me say goodbye to her properly. I loved her too, not in the same way but she was my friend"

"I know...and I am so sorry"

"Stop saying that you stupid twat"

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

_Gwen let out a growl as she paced back and forth the golden floor. Or at least she assumed it was the floor, as far as she know she's walking on thin air. _

"_He's bloody happy! No one but me is dead, what more can you want? Can't you just let me rest in peace now?"_

_Bad Wolf blinked owlishly. "Jack would be unhappy if you died of anything but old age...or a disease. He'll think it's his fault"_

"_I feel so bloody old! It's been centuries for me, I relive months at a time! Do you know how many times I saw my little girl blow out the candles for her fifth birthday? Seven times! If you want Jack so happy then go down there and make him happy! I know who you are; you're that Rose that the Doctor and Jack care for"_

"_Rose had died....long ago in another universe by her husband's side, the Doctor's human clone" Bad Wolf said. "But just as Jack is doomed to never die till the time is right. Just as the Doctor is doomed to be alone, wandering through time and space, I am doomed to stay here on this plane. To over watch and only influence, not truly interfere....you are my representative on Earth. You make Jack happy; you got the Doctor to stay in contact with his old companions more. They won't be lonely as they would have been"_

"_And you?"_

"_I got to live a human life first. This is my penance"_

"_So what am I supposed to do now?"_

"_Try again" _


End file.
